Memorial Day Project

So, this is what we did on Memorial Day. . .

It looks like Bryson did all the work--trust me, I did my share.

And Nathan did his share, too. :)



And Lily and Kayla did theirs . . .



Really, though, I placed every brick on the bottom layer and most on the top layer. Bryson then perfected where I put each brick.

And here's the little retaining wall. There's a little wave to it. We love how it turned out. I got some raspberry starts from some the Larsons in my ward and planted them back there. Now for strawberries and grapes and I will be all set!

Well, that's it from here! Our backyard is finally starting to look more complete. We've only been here 2 1/2 years. . . :)

A little of this and that

Well, I am trying to catch up a little on my lack of posting. . . life seems to be getting busier. I blame my lack of posting on two things: my new calling and my new hobby.

My new calling is Ward Self-Reliance Specialist. I am so loving it! In my ward, we are now dry pack canning every month and I get to pass on all sorts of good preparedness info that I find through my email list. I am learning so much and really enjoy seeing the people in my ward get excited about self-reliance.

My new hobby is couponing. We now get 4 Sunday papers and I am usually busy clipping coupons and planning out my shopping list. It is really hard to pass up amazing deals!

So, during the time that I was normally trying to update my blog, I am now either working on my calling, or clipping coupons!

So, here comes a major post of some random things we have done lately, and they are not in chronological order. . .



I bought a little kiddie pool a couple weeks ago and we the kids have been spending just about every afternoon out swimming!


And picnicing. . .

Bryson and Nathan went on the Fathers and Sons campout. Nathan looks forward to this all year long! They had a great time!!

Kayla is growing up! She is 19months old now! She does well in nursery (phew) and is so much fun to have around. She keeps us all laughing!

We went up to Walla Walla Mother's Day weekend to see my sisters, Lori and Kara in their high school musical. We spent all Saturday doing yardwork. Nathan did his share of the work, as you can see. . .

He had fun riding the lawnmower with grandma.

Kayla was happy as long as she was in the swing! :)

Cousin Daylen thought he would help out by trimming the tree. . .

The high school performed the musical "Little Women" and it was awesome! I was so impressed with everything about it. Lori got to swing in on a rope! It was great!

A few weeks ago, we went to the Boise zoo with some friends. The kids really enjoyed it, even though it rained, hailed, the wind blew, and was nice and sunny--just a crazy weather day.

Here's Kayla, petting the fake Komodo Dragon.

And Lily, posing on him.

Nathan had a blast going down the giraffe slide.

And, also this month, we had our preschool graduation. It was a group preschool where we all took turns teaching. It was alot of fun and now the kids are so ready for kindergarden in the fall!

Well, there's my attept to update the blog. :) Life continues to go on!

Happy Easter

Well, we had a few fun Easter activities going on the past few days. . .

First, we invited a bunch of people from our ward over and had a really fun Easter egg hunt at the park behind our house on Friday. Unfortunately, I left my camera at the house and didn't get any pictures! We did almost get rained out, though, so we headed back home and ate some yummy egg shaped sugar cookies!

That afternoon, I colored eggs with Nathan and Lily. They particularly enjoyed coloring on the eggs with the invisible crayon.

This morning before church (we have 1pm church), we made some super yummy "Resurrection Rolls" that my visiting teacher brought by the day before. They were so easy and fun to make. Basically, you take a triangle crescent roll (which is the tomb), a big marshmallow (which is Christ's body) and dip it in melted butter and then cinnamon and sugar (the oil and spices they annointed Christ's body with) and then roll it up in the "tomb." When they are done baking, Christ's body has "disappeared" from the tomb. The kids loved it and the rolls were delicious! Thanks, Mylea!!

I had about 30 seconds to grab a picture of the kids before church. Nathan came zooming in at the last second and somehow between getting dressed and getting to church, he always takes off his tie and his shirt comes untucked and he practically has to get dressed again! Oh, well. :)

And I have to throw in these cute pictures of Kayla. The other day, she was walking along the rock in our front yard like a balance beam. It was so cute!

It took a lot of concentration. . . .


Happy Easter!!!!

Turbo Soup Cans

One morning last week, I got up to exercise, but didn't quite make it through before the kids were up and needing attention. So, I left my DVD going and went off to get breakfast for Kayla and do "morning" things. A few minutes later I noticed that Nathan and Lily had gone into the pantry to get soup cans for their weights and started exercising along! It was so cute to watch them! They did pretty good, too!!

Tonight, Bryson got out the "real" chess game, not just the one on the computer. Nathan was so excited to play with him. They played a couple games and Nathan is a pretty good little player!

And lastly, here's what saying prayers with Lily is like every night right now:

Lily: "Let's each say our prayers in our head."

Me: "Okay."

So I begin to say my own prayer in my head . . . meanwhile. . .

Lily: "When will you be done? When will you be done? When will you be done? When will you be done? When will you be done?. . . "

Me: "I'm done now."

Lily: "I'm not done yet, I'm saying a long prayer tonight."

I can't help but chuckle every night. :)

My BIG 5 Year-old!

Nathan celebrated his 5th birthday on Saturday, the 7th of March. Crazy! He is so excited for kindergarden. In fact, on his birthday he asked if he would go to school in the morning. He thought that as soon as he turned five, he would start school. :) He now understands, that school will start at the end of the summer.

He is growing up so fast! He is a great helper to both me and Bryson and he is a great big brother who loves to play with Lily and Kayla. Sometimes when I run upstairs to do something real quick, he will surprise me by cleaning up the downstairs! It is always a WONDERFUL surprise! He is always thinking of ways to make something better (boy, does he get that from his dad, or what!) and he likes to help Bryson play chess on the computer before bed. He's becoming a pretty good little player. We are so lucky to have him in our family!

Are you a winner?

Okay, I won on my friend's blog, so now I get to post this:


Lucky you! The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:



1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!



2- What I create will be just for you.



3- It'll be done this year.



4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may sew or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!



5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.



The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

My Favorite Things!

So, beware there are many pictures that follow . . . I just couldn't stop adding pictures. These are my very most favorite things!!

The kids helping Daddy with a mailing project. . .

No, these aren't Halloween pictures. . . they just like to dress up. :)

Yes those are fleece superman blankets tied around them like capes. . .

Oops, I guess I added this pictures twice. . .

How sweet is this one? Nathan is such a good big brother and actually a peacemaker between the girls. I never thought I'd put Nathan and peace in the same sentence. . . he is really growing up.

These two have a lot of fun playing together. . .

Lily. . .

Kayla. . . she has caught on and says her form of "cheese" as soon as I get the camera out.

Nathan . . . miraculously I caught a normal face, you should have seen the ones he was pulling. . .

Gotta love 'em!